Mylo lives in Piha and is a surfer and a snowboarder. In a past life he was a skinny jean indie rock kid who played the drums and got a marketing degree from Auckland Uni. He then created a menswear label KINGDOMOF, ran NZ skate brand Traffick Skateboards and spent a season building the terrain park in Lake Louise Canada snowboarding 120 days in a row.

In 2012 he founded The Black Club, a popular culture, fashion, party brand notorious for reckless hip hop parties in random and creative underground locations. He started DJ'ing and began a weekly show on George FM known for laying down the latest finds of eclectic soul, hip hop, rap and beats.

Somewhere along the way he got a call out the blue from some dude called Mez who wanted to link up.

Mez a.k.a. em.ee.zee was arrived in NZ with his family as a refugee from Ethiopia. If there's one thing to say about Mez it's that he's a charmer. An outrageously charismatic dude whose real name Mezmure means 'music'. Never has a name been so fitting. He is incredibly passionate about it, and fortunately for him he is also incredibly gifted at it.

A lyricist who idolises J.Cole above all others, em.ee.zee is a rapper and an artist who refuses to be put into any category. With unique spiritual and beautiful outlook on life he is one of a kind.

This comes out in his music which was already well and truely headed in the right direction before he decided to give Mylo a call despite never having met.

Turns out it was the best decision ever. Together the boys started gigging together, Mylo on the decks and em.ee.zee on the mic. To cut it short, they then met Shingi & Muche from Too'OnPoint and found an outrageous amount of chemistry that inevitably resulted in them forming DIED in '69 and releasing a 4 track EP together in 2016. This landed them on the stages of Rhythm & Vines & Northern Bass and has recently clocked over 110 thousand plays on Spotify.

To bring this back to Merci Motel and the point of all this... essentially their outlook is that NZ is an unbelievable melting pot of talent. However it's an industry that's completely biased to supporting a certain few who managed to break through into the limelight. It's their belief that something was needed to give a platform and a voice to those whose voices are worth listening to. Somewhere that artists hiding in bedrooms and in garages can submit their music and get a chance to play to a real audience. Not to mention nightlife in Auckland could do with some more live music, heart and soul - rather than the same old shit being played in every club.

So again if you want to support the movement and get involved makes sure you get in touch and help cultivate the next generation of NZ musicians.